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Work with nexxus

Install as an app

nexxus installs to the home screen of an iPad, an Android tablet or your computer and then opens full screen, with your company's name and icon. This page shows how on each device, what works without a network, and how an operator switches the offline part off.

For
EveryoneAdmins
Time
5 min

nexxus runs in the browser, and it can also sit on your home screen like any other app. Installed, it opens without the address bar and tabs, with the name, colour and icon of your company. That helps where people work on tablets away from a desk, for example assessors on a site visit who open nexxus between two rooms.

The app installs from the address you use. If your company has its own domain in nexxus, the installed app carries its name and icon; on a shared address it carries the name of that installation.

  • nexxus is open in the browser, with a connection. You can install it before you sign in: the sign-in page has Install app under the form.
  • On iPad and iPhone: iOS 16.4 or later. Safari works on every version.
  • Nothing else. Installing needs no permission and no admin.
  1. On the sign-in page, tap Install app under the form. Signed in, open the profile window instead: tap your picture at the foot of the menu (on an iPhone, open the menu first) and tap Install app.

  2. A window shows the steps for iOS, because Safari lets no website install itself.

  3. Tap the Share icon in the browser’s toolbar.

  4. Choose Add to Home Screen in the list; you may have to scroll down.

  5. Tap Add in the top right corner. The icon appears on your Home Screen.

The entry Install app appears only where the browser can install and while nexxus does not already run as an app.

After installing, open the app once with a connection. It keeps its own files on the device then, so it can start without a network later.

Today: the app starts and tells you that it is offline. Nothing is saved offline. While the device has no network, or the server does not answer, a red bar at the top says No internet connection or No connection to the server, and that changes cannot be saved until the connection is back. Enter and save your work once you are online again.

Saving offline and sending later is planned as a separate step.

nexxus updates itself; there is nothing to install. When a new version comes out while the app is open, a bar at the bottom says A new version is available. Save what you are working on, then click Reload. Later hides the bar until the next version. The app never reloads by itself, so nothing you typed gets lost.

  • Name, colour and icon come from your company’s settings: the app name, the accent colour, and the symbol (or the logo) from the setup. A tenant without its own picture gets the nexxus icon. The short name under the icon is the full name if it has at most 12 characters, otherwise as many whole words as fit, so “GBA Risk Assessment” reads “GBA Risk”.
  • iOS keeps the icon and name from the moment you added the app. After a new logo, remove the app from the Home Screen and add it again. Chrome picks up such changes by itself when the app is opened; it looks at most once a day.
  • Your data does not stay on the device. The app keeps its program files only (the page and its scripts, fonts and pictures), never records, files or answers of the server.

For operators: switching the offline part off

Section titled “For operators: switching the offline part off”

The offline part is a service worker, a small script the browser runs for the app. If it ever causes trouble, set the environment variable NEXXUS_SERVICE_WORKER=off on the admin frontend container and restart it. Every browser then replaces the service worker on its next visit with one that deletes the app’s stored files and removes itself, without reloading any open page. Installed apps stay installed and keep working online. Set it back to on (the default) to turn it on again.

Terminal window
# Kubernetes
kubectl -n <namespace> set env deployment/admin NEXXUS_SERVICE_WORKER=off
  • There is no Install app. The app already runs installed, or the browser cannot install (Firefox on a computer). On Android, use Chrome.
  • The icon shows the wrong company or the nexxus icon. The app installs from the address you used: open your company’s own address, then install. If the icon is still the nexxus one, your company has no symbol or logo in the setup yet.
  • The app opens with the red bar and nothing loads. The device or the server has no connection. Nothing you enter now can be saved; wait for the bar to turn green.